Glass Whip
by Shadadelover
Summary: Scourge is being hunted by the police to re-imprison him in the No Zone and finds himself in the Underground Zone. When he's saved by a guy who calls himself Manic the Hedgehog and finds out he's related to his good counterpart Sonic, what will he do when Manic has his guard down? Scourge X Fiona - Eventual Scourge X Manic - Side Pairings not determined CO EDITED BY MY FRIEND AIDAN


Scourge let out a groan, pressing a hand to his head in pain. He felt the dull thud of a hemicrania hit him hard as his vision proceeded to be dark and blurry, causing him to huff in anger. What was meant to be menacing came out as more of a purr when he came to the gorgeous realization that the ground underneath him was soft as silk. Forcing himself up, he felt something light and soft roll off and down his stomach as he moved upwards. Were these bed sheets? He was in a bed? He palmed at the linens covering his legs, just to be sure, feeling their soft texture slip and mold between and around his fingers. Yep. Bed sheets. This was a bed.

But he didn't know this bed. He didn't know this room. Where was he? What was going on?

"Finally awake there, flames?"

* * *

Scourge felt his chest heave, perspiration dripping down the side of his fur as his legs continued to swerve with persistence, the sound of loud dogs not far behind him as he ran through the metallic brown city landscape. He wasn't sure how long he'd been running, or where he was, but he knew he had crossed zones. A lot of zones.

He heard loud shouting accompany the canines and he did his best to keep pushing forward as the ground made loud whapping noises under the souls of his shoes. He could hear the faint skittering of claws on metal and stomping much heavier than his own. They were closing in and he did his best not to panic.

He rounded a corner in between two buildings and into an alley, ran through briskly and rounded another corner again before pressing himself to the opposite side of the building. He felt his legs become heavy, willing himself not to collapse. His ears began to fuzz and his vision haze as he calmed himself down. He shut his eyes for a moment. Broken gasps escaped his lips as he tried to calmly breathe.

He heard a dull thud suddenly hit his ears and he felt them twitch to the beat.

A beat...

A drum beat?

Looking around he came to the realization that it was in fact a drumbeat. He lightly tapped his foot, and felt himself stabilize with its 4 4 rhythm. He heard faint barking in the distance and took it as a signal to run. He dashed down the rows of apartment buildings, feeling and hearing the drumming get louder. It drew him in. Before he knew it he was standing in front of a tall wide building.

The beat pulled him closer, drawing him in. He pressed a hand to the door, feeling it move under his palm, and leaned in. Shutting his eyes, Scourge scrunched up his face. Just what he needed, music pounding when his head already was. He could still hear the vague shouting in the back of his mind, unsure if it was his imagination or reality at this point. He didn't care, he needed a place to hide. A sanctuary, if you will.

Pushing open the door carefully he stepped in through the little crack he'd created for himself, shutting it softly behind him. He walked in, his footsteps light compared to the loud drumming that filled the room, as well as the light chatter of the other people inside.

It appeared to be some kind of food joint; maybe a diner or a bar. He couldn't tell and he didn't want to bother to. He watched the drummer for a minute, only seeing a watercolour blur control his irises. He heard the drums cut out and the drummer say something he couldn't make out. A soft melody suddenly filled his head. There were no words, just... A song. It soothed him, and he moved a bit from the door to lean against the wall, shutting his eyes as a bliss-like feeling took over him.

As he listened, he could feel his ears slowly begin clearing. He could make out the light tapping of a base beat on the High Tom-Tom and a floaty sound accompanying his vocal melody on the Crash and Ride Cymbals.

He blinked his eyes open, trying to make out the drummer again to no avail. He looked to see simply a blur of green. Almost as soon as he did the soft melody ended and he heard a muffled exchange of words. He held his head in anger as his hearing muffled itself yet again. He was almost sure he was about to pass out. He let out a quiet grunt and hit the side of his temple when he felt a hand suddenly grab a hold of his forearm. A loud voice boomed at the close proximity, crashing through the fuzz of his hearing issues. It sounded serious and proud and he almost immediately broke into cold sweat.

"You're coming with us."

Scourge felt his pupils dilate instantly, and everything suddenly became crystal clear as his blood began to pump at incredible rates. In a swift movement he slapped the hand off and moved off the wall, leaning back until he fell backwards to the floor. He quickly caught himself with his hands on the ground, and He pushed his legs up, did a turn, moving his hands to avoid his legs, knocking the other to the floor. "He's hostile! Get him!" another guard shouted, reaching for him. Scourge moved rapidly, avoiding their hands. Avoiding their attacks. Avoiding what he knew could very well end him and get his ass thrown back into prison.

By now he had noticed that everyone's eyes were on him. He felt a smirk play on his features. 'May as well give 'em a show.' He thought to himself.

He did a few flips backwards, narrowly avoiding the hands of a guard dashing at him. On his final flip he kicked the guard under his chin, and the man fell forwards. Scourge used this to his advantage. He pushed up off of the guy's back and shoved up into the air, grabbing onto a light that hung from the roof. He pulled himself up, standing on top of the light and surveying the area below him as he huffed for air.

The police shouted up at him in a rage and he only snorted back in amusement. They looked like tiny ants. Ants he could squish beneath his foot if he wanted to. His eyes travelled to centre stage, and his eyes locked with the drummer who stared back up at him. Black eyes met ice, and he was captivated. He had never met someone with pupils completely black, and it surprised him. He was green, so he was right about that. He didn't have time to survey anything else about him, and forced himself to tear his eyes away, beginning to swing back and forth on the light fixture.

He jumped from lamp to lamp with grace and confidence, a large smirk across his lips. He lunged forward in hopes of grabbing onto the final one closest to the door. His hand grabbed onto the centre, though to his horror it ripped from the roof. Hanging there in terror, he grappled to it desperately, swinging his legs and hearing afraid gasps from below. He kicked and watched in helplessness as the light snapped off its wires, sending him falling through the air.

Thinking fast, he swooped to spread his legs and point his feet sideways. He landed easily, his hands hitting the ground. He looked up, surrounded instantly by guards. "Scourge the Hedgehog, you are under arrest!" One proclaimed. Just as quickly as he had fallen, Scourge was yanked to his feet, feeling his hands forcibly moved behind his back. He felt cold metal wrap around his wrists, and a large cuff was presented in front of him. His pupils shrunk a considerable size and he began to hyperventilate.

The suppression collar.

His eyes widened, petrified, and he shook his head left and right rapidly. "Please- Please don't! Keep it away from me! STOP!" he yelled and let out a yelp when it was put around his neck suddenly. He coughed, and he began to shake violently. "This isn't happening... This isn't happening.." he repeated to himself, feeling his frame quake in fear.

A sudden shout shocked all of them, their attention redirected to the stage.

"YO!"

They all looked up towards the male voice. Scourge's new found perception had kicked in before, but he now had a chance to actually look at him. Up on stage stood a relatively chubby-bodied bright green hedgehog with large, pointy, icicle-esque spines jutting up from his head. He had two piercings and wore a red vest, donning red and white shoes on his feet and an orange fanny pack around his waist. He stood with an aggravated expression, the back of his hands resting on his hips. In one hand he held a pair of white drumsticks. But the one thing Scourge couldn't stop looking at was his eyes. He was right. Black. Pitch black.

"What the heck, man!?" The strange hedgehog shouted, thoroughly annoyed. "I'm tryna get a beat going and do my shtick and you guys waltz in here and start drop kicking each other and wreckin' up the place like it's an attack from the Swatbutts!"

His eyes travelled to Scourge and narrowed questioningly. "and what exactly are you doing with him?"

His voice was lightly raspy and held a certain 'city boy'esque accent. He assumed the gruffness was from singing, and as for his vocabulary.. It was.. Interesting, to say the least. Scourge looked between the other green hedgehog and suddenly found his voice. He was terrified. He knew he would get trapped if he didn't lie. He had no choice.

He put on a pleading expression and looked up to the other, petrified.

"Please, you gotta help me! These guys have been chasing me for days because Eggman wants me dead!" "Eggman?"

He squinted and eye at him and a brow raised in a disbelieving way.

"You know, Robotnik?" Scourge let out hopefully and watched as the others eyes flicked wide, flaring up instantly. He seemed to have pressed a button. They then narrowed again in anger and he snorted, "Anyone who works for Robotnik is no friend of mine!" "Sir, please," the police began to try to reason as the unnamed hedgehog jumped off stage, shoving the cops away and grabbing Scourge. "He isn't what he says he is! He-" "Can it, metal head! No one tries to harm innocent people while I'm around!"

The punkish hedgehog tugged Scourge down to his level. Scourge took a moment to realize how short he was compared to him before his thoughts were interrupted by the absolute anger laced in the others tone as he suddenly whispered into his ear; "Behind the drums. Now."

Doing as he was told, Scourge obediently jumped up onto stage, flashing a smirk at the men when the hedgehog's back was turned. An officer scoffed in disbelief and tried to speak again, but the unknown boy shot him a glare that stunk of death. "Talk one more time, and I won't show any mercy." The other recoiled and visibly gulped. He looked to his commander and to the boy, flicking between them. "We can't just let him do this, Chief!"

"I know." he shot a backwards glance at his underling, "And we won't." his last words came out as a snarl and he raised a hand. All the men raised their guns and pointed them to the hedgehog, following his signal. "Not another step."

Scourge's face scrunched up and he nervously rubbed his hands behind his back. To his relief the hedgehog boldly walked right through them and jumped onto stage. "Oi! Don't you have ears!" A cop barked, and the other simply looked back over his shoulder. He smirked widely, his eyes daring and in an almost promiscuous tone he proclaimed,

"I'm a drummer, man. Of course I got ears."

Scourge watched as the boy suddenly front flipped, landing square on the stool of his drums facing backwards. He looked up at him with a smirk and slyly winked. Separating his drumsticks, he spun around in his chair, beginning to play with a force so strong the ground shook beneath his feet. He fell to his knees, watching chunks of earth come up from the ground and almost crush the policemen. They yelled and began to dodge, but were cut off at all corners.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Their chief shouted, motioning the others out. They followed his call, dashing out the door quickly, almost trampling each other in the process. The head officer gave the boy one last glare before running out taking flank of his troops. The boy waited until they were out the doors, watching them make the foolish mistake to leave them open. He laughed and added in a light tap onto his Tom-Tom and a small piece of concrete sprung up from the ground and hit the chief in the ass, who let out a loud yelp in surprise.

All Scourge could do was stare in shock, watching as the other spun around in his chair again to face him. "You alright now, bud?" His voice was laced with concern and his smile shimmered. It was the genuine face of a true hero. "I... Ugh.." he clutched onto his head with both hands. The others smile quickly faded to a look of fear and further concern and he watched the unknown hedgehog slide off his chair, sit in front of him and hold one hand on his wrist and the other on his head, "Hey, you alright?" he muttered out, his voice light as air. The pressure his hand gave his head lightly numbed the pain, but it was much too intense. The adrenaline in his veins dieing down, he watched in agony as his vision blurred almost instantly, the others visage decaying and his ears ringing excruciatingly.

He collapsed onto his side and rolled onto his back, watching the other leaning over top of him and palm at his face, yelling something Scourge couldn't even make out. Probably to get up. He remembers the last thing he sees is a shiny glass medallion hanging down in front of the others face and those surprisingly piercing black eyes staring into his. Even when everything went black, he could still see the others eyes bright as day to the very last minute when he faded into unconsciousness.

* * *

Scourge narrowed his eyes in suspicion, his head still lightly banging as he examined the other hedgehog at the door. He leaned against its frame smoothly, arms crossed and one leg draped over the other. He held his drumsticks in hand and his face held an expression mixed of both concern and smugness.

"Flames?" he repeated back with a grunt, rubbing a temple with his four and middle finger. "Where'd you dig that up from?" "Your jacket." he motioned to the piece of leather the other male dawned with his finger. Scourge let out a huff and moved to get up, only to groan and flop onto his side. Hearing a light laugh he looked up at the other in annoyance as well as, surprisingly enough to him, interest.

It wavered through a middle and low pitch and almost sounded like he was clearing his throat. It was a cute laugh, maybe if he were a chick. But he guessed it worked for him, considering he had the kind of 'punk rock' look going for him. "Head still bangin' princess?" he watched the other uncross his arms and lean an elbow against the wall and prop up his head, the other resting on his hip.

"Ya know," The leather-clad hedgehog said as he stuffed his face into the mattress under him, "A guy who stands like that shouldn't have the right to be callin' someone like me 'princess'." he shot back, his voice muffled, watching from the side of his vision. The others smile only widened, and he laughed again. He pushed off the wall, turned and walked out.

"Hang on." he called from the hall outside the room. Scourge groaned in response and shoved his face further into the matress.

A minute later he came back in with a glass of water and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Sit up." he commanded and Scourge grunted in response, doing as he was told with a little effort required. The still unfamiliar hedgehog sat beside him, the bed barely shifting. Scourge raised a brow, expecting a bigger dip. He looked over the other and noted he was in fact as tubby as he thought he was when he saw him last night. He didn't look insanely fit, but he was this light? Why was he even thinking about this?

"Dude, you gonna take the meds or what? Cause they're gonna like stick to my gloves if you don't, and last time I checked, the stank of Tylenol on your hands doesn't smell too bangin'."

Scourge blinked at him and felt his eyes narrow. He swiped the medication from the other and slapped them into his mouth, swallowing them in one heavy gulp. The boy offered him the cup of water, which Scourge took relatively politely. He chugged it down and he felt the others eyes on him. As he drank, he opened one eye half way to look at him. He didn't look away. He finished the cup and swallowed harshly, letting out a satisfied grunt, looking at him and proceeding to ask;

"What are you starin' at, green bean?"

"You're one to talk."

" 'scuse me?"

"You're just as green as me, snot."

Scourge visibly shivered being reminded of the nickname he was constantly belittled with in prison, letting it slide and snorting at the other, "You must be fun at parties."

"Oh I'm plenty fun at parties. Just not when people are being jerks when all I'm trying to do is help."

"Touché."

"Touché to you too I guess."

Scourge didn't know why, but he suddenly felt himself smirk. He raised a hand up and clapped it down on top of the others head, hearing him let out a weak yelp in the process. He smoothed it over his head, his long quills moving in between his fingers.

"You're alright, kid."

His fur was surprisingly plush between his fingers, rubbing his thumb over the side of his head for good measure before pulling back, almost not wanting to.

"Thanks, I guess.." he huffed, appearing to try and style his quills to no effort. He shook his head a bit, and they popped back into place themselves. He ran a hand over them and they flicked back up again. "It's Manic, by the way." Scourge blinked. His name? That was right, he hadn't bothered to ask.

But why should he need to? He was king Scourge. He needn't waste his time on something so trivial as a name.

"...Scourge.." he grunted back and the other raised a brow. "Scourge..?" "Yeah." He looked at the other almost angrily. "What, got a problem with it?" "Man, my name's Manic. You think I gotta problem with _your_ name?"

They stared at each other for a minute, eyes wide and lips pursed. They proceeded to begin to snicker and laugh. "Alright... But still, why the questioning than?" "Well.. A scourge is the name of a whip."

Scourge turned to the other, surprised. He crossed his arms and proceeded to glare at his caretaker, letting out a grunt. "It also means, to quote the dictionary, To afflict with severe or widespread suffering and devastation, or, ravage." he huffed and watched the other smirk in his direction.

"Well that sure says a lot about you, huh?" Manic snickered, and Scourge almost felt embarrassed. He felt his cheeks heat up a subtle pink and he snarled, barking at the other. "Oh forget it!"

He pushed himself up off the bed in anger and walked forward in a huff. He turned back to the other angrily and watched him rise as well and walk forward, an almost triumphant smirk on his face. 'Little brat.. Who does he think he is?'

He handed the empty glass to Manic, who took it in response. When he did Scourge retracted his hand, quickly stuffing both of them into his jacket pockets, avoiding eye contact. He figured he may as well try to cool himself down. "Can I ask you a question?" he piped up, trying not to sound too bossy. Manic nodded, responding with a simple, "Sure, go ahead." and a smile.

"How'd you do that..." he motioned with his hands into the air, waving them around and moving his digits awkwardly, "Drumming... Thing.." he scrunched up his face, unsure how to explain it, but Manic grinned and snickered, finding his weird facial expression almost hysterical, but kept himself composed.

"You mean break ground?"

"Yeah.. That thing."

"It's simple, really. I used the magic of music." Scourge showed a look of pure bewilderment at how easily the almost unreal words slipped off his tongue, but Manic simply shrugged. "It's a weird term to use, yeah, but I'll show you if you want. But me and my bro and sis are about to head out to do some..." he paused, showing an almost devious smirk across his features, "Maintenance.. On Robuttnik's latest factory. You in?"

Scourge thought it over. This kid saved his ass from being thrown back into prison and gave him some pain killers, despite not really knowing anything about him. His headache was just about cleared up thanks to the soft bed he had been provided. He knew he owed this kid squat, but he was always up for a good smashing. This kid was asking him if he WANTED to do it and he wouldn't get in shit for breaking stuff, which was always a plus. He flashed the other a toothy smirk and picked his shades up from off his brows and dropped them over his eyes. "Sure. I'm game, squirt."

Manic looked slightly scared all of a sudden.

"What?" "Nothing.. It's just.. Your teeth.."

Scourge raised a brow, bringing his hand up to finger over the shape of his gums and jaw. He smoothed over his teeth and recoiled in a wince, feeling one of the sharp tips prick his finger. That was right, he had sharp teeth now. He barely even thought about it, considering no one found it an issue until now.

"Oh..."

"It's fine, it just.. Surprised me a bit, ya know?"

"Forget about it." The other shrugged, speaking in a casual tone as he replaced his hands into his pockets. It was just teeth, but it still made him wonder why the other caught notice so quickly. He followed the other male out of the room and down a relatively dark hallway out into what looked to be laid out as a living room. A couch sat a bit out from the wall, a few monitors across from it mounted on the wall and a small simple wooden table sat in between both.

"By the way, today's fun fact is that this isn't our actual place. This is just somewhere we're crashin' for right now 'cause of our gigs as well as to mash Robotnik's new factory."

"Hmm." he hummed to show he was listening, following behind him as he checked out the metal plating of the walls and floor. Due to his vision being somewhere else, he bumped into the other's back, not realizing he'd stopped. He huffed and moved backwards a little, not bothering to mutter an apology as the other turned around and suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Scourge took it as an oncoming attack and yanked his wrist away, then looked up only to see the other with a surprised and confused expression. "Whoa, whoa! Relax there, sharky! I'm just gonna put a walkie-talkie watch thing on your wrist, m'kay? Nothin' hostile." "Well you should've told me that first, idiot." he grunted, showing his wrist to his host, though keeping his muscles stiff just in case the other tried anything funny.

Manic rolled his eyes and took Scourge's wrist again, his grip feather light on his hand. Scourge watched as he swiftly tied the communication device around his wrist. It didn't look really high tech, a simple machine. But it appeared it would get the job done, for sure.

"Manic?"

An almost squawky female voice caught his attention, looking up as a pink hedgehog enter the room, for a moment mistaking it to be Amy Rose due to seeing a flash of light pink hair. Upon closer inspection he realized it definitely wasn't. The pink hair spewed out of almost magenta coloured fur and a girl taller than Manic, but presumably not as tall as himself, stood there in a red and blueish-purple outfit. Manic approached her with a friendly smile, opening her arms for a hug which she also opened her arms to and accepted.

"Heeeey, Sis! How'd mech snaggin' go?" "Good." She replied politely with a smile, catching sight of Scourge from the side of her vision. She leaned over the side of her brother, blinking at the other hedgehog. "And who might this be? A guest?" "He came in during my jam sesh at Attina's. He was running from some coppers and I saved him."

He watched as her face became cautious and he mentally rolled his eyes. She began to whisper and he pretended he couldn't hear when he clearly could.

"Manic, how do we know this guy isn't evil?" "Sis, don't sweat it!" he said with a grin. "In his world Robotnik has it out for him. I don't know why, but I trust him." Scourge almost wanted to burst out laughing.

"Um, excuse me?"

Scourge watched as the girl walked up to him, raising a hand to gesture a hello. "Pardon my manners. I'm Sonia the hedgehog, Manic's sister." Scourge nodded and decided to be civil, removing a hand from one of his pockets and shaking hers. "Scourge. Scourge the hedgehog." "It's a pleasure to meet you." she said with a bright smile and he nodded again in response.

"Oh my gosh!" she suddenly exclaimed and he raised a brow. "Manic, he's covered in gashes!" "Huh? Oh nah, nah nah, sis. He had those already." Scourge looked down at his skin, realizing she meant the three large claw-shaped gashes on his stomach. "Ah.. Yeah." He watched her sigh in relief, "Oh, good.. I was about to have a heart attack."

Scourge chuckled a little, shrugging. "Gashes aside, I was actually pretty jacked up last night. My head was pretty bad because of all the running and stress n' stuff. But your brother is a pretty good nurse." "Oh stick a sock in those sharp teeth of yours. See if you can rip through them."

Scourge snickered at the others flustered expression, winking at him casually. Manic proceeded to pout, cross his arms, and look away. That was more like it. Shows him right for making fun of king Scourge.

Suddenly another voice hit his ears and he all about cringed at the painstakingly familiar cocky and proud tone it held, wrapped up together in a bow made of charisma and heroism.

"Yo, you guys ready yet? I'm waiting~"

Scourge forced his eyes up and he was met with what he feared. Standing there was a hedgehog of blue fur, posed with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently on the metal surface of the floor. He was chubbier than he remembered, much more so than Manic, but he was still Sonic. That damned bastard. It took all his will power not to attack him there and now.

Sonia pivoted towards his direction and stuck her hands on her hips, glaring. "Oh be quiet, Sonic! We have a guest!" He held the side of his head as Sonia walked up and scolded the blue mammal. As she tugged him into the hall, Manic caught wind of Scourge's apparent sudden discomfort.

He walked up and muttered, "You alright, Flames?" "Guh... Yeah. I'm good... Just... Kinda hit with some really unwanted reminders of someone I really don't wanna think about right now.."

The other frowned and looked away. "Sorry, man..."

A dull silence followed. Manic suddenly bounding up and grinning caught him off guard. "I got it! Instead of thinkin' about... Whatevers got ya down, Think about smashin' stuff beneath your feet!" he elbowed the other lightly on the arm and added in a wink, Scourge looking surprised at his efforts to cheer him up. "We're gonna pummel that factory to mush! You'll see!"

Scourge felt himself slowly grin at the idea of smashing robots between his fists. He heard that annoying pompous voice add in a comment, but he was much more prepared for it this time, taking it in. "Yeah, if you don't rob it blind first." "Hey, I can't help it if I see something that could come in handy. Like I always say-" "Yeah yeah, whatever bro."

Manic rolled his eyes and Scourge looked surprised again. "You steal?" Manic looked up and him and blinked, rubbing his back quills sheepishly. "It's... A long story. If you want I can tell you on the way." "As long as you also tell me how your..." He added in air quotations, "Magic of Music... works." Manic seemed surprised himself, but grinned at him regardless.

He balled his hand into a fist and presented it to the other. Scourge wasted no time bumping his own with Manic's.

"It's a deal."


End file.
